S. Cakir Feminism

aspasia Volume 1, 2007: 6183
p
Feminism and Feminist History-Writing in Turkey:
The Discovery of Ottoman Feminism
Serpil akr
ABSTRACT
The formation of a feminist consciousness and memory in Turkey coincided with a
historical period in which both social movements and academic studies proliferated.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the increasing number of womens organisations and
publications began to impact upon both the feminist movement and academic re-
search in the area of womens studies. This, combined with the expansion of the civil
societal realm, has resulted in many topics and issues related to women becoming part
of the public discussion, thereby contributing to the development of a new feminist
consciousness. This article discusses the impact of the work in the field of womens
history and the ensuing discovery of an Ottoman feminism on the formation of such a
feminist consciousness and memory in Turkey.
KEYWORDS: Ottoman Feminism, Turkish Nationalist Modernisation, Feminist History-
Writing.
p
Introduction
In Turkey, it was only in the 1980s that we were able to discover the early roots of
womens organised struggle for emancipation. There are various reasons why it took
so long for us to become aware of this early-twentieth-century struggle, which was
quite animated. The womens movement and feminist historical research played a sig-
nificant role in this discovery. The attempts, both in academic and non-academic fem-
inist circles and in various branches of feminism, led to the discovery of a feminist
past that had not been part of womens consciousness in Turkey before. That is,
womens struggles during the late imperial period (18691923) were revealed and
named as Ottoman feminism for the first time within a feminist political discourse.
03 Cakir Aspasia 1 1/13/07 3:06 PM Page 61
This new interest in the past made it possible for the voices of prominent women of
the earlier generations to be heard.
In this article, I will explore the reasons for the previous lack of knowledge about
the early history of the womens movement in Turkey. I will emphasise the interesting
history of that movement, and will discuss developments that transformed previously
accepted historical discourses as well as the effects of this new historiography. In par-
ticular, I will look at the impact of the discovery of Ottoman feminism on womens
positioning within the history of modernisation and the writing of that history in
Turkey. First, I will discuss the role of women in Ottoman-Turkish modernisation and
summarise the political discussions related to women in different phases of the his-
tory of the Turkish Republic (i.e. from 1923). In part two, I will summarise the main
trends of Ottoman modernist thought in order to comprehend the intellectual impact
of Ottoman feminism. In the section about the Ottoman womens movement, I will
look at the various dimensions of the debates and methods of struggle of Ottoman
women, focusing on these womens own voices. Perhaps the reason why we have dis-
covered our history so late in time arises from certain methodological problems. In the
last section, I attempt to discuss the basic problems of feminist historiography in
Turkey.
Modernisation in Turkey and the Significance of Ottoman Feminism
The roots of modernisation in Turkey are located in the final period of the Ottoman
Empire (18391918). Ottoman and Turkish reformers resemble French Jacobins in that
they were centralist, authoritarian, and insistent with regard to realising the ideals of
the Enlightenment.
1
The most distinctive character of the Republic is that it separated
nationalism from Islam, and went even further to undertake a process of modernisa-
tion and secularisation. The founders of the Turkish Republic, led by Kemal Atatrk,
went far beyond the Young Turk dreams of Empire with their reforms that abolished
and transformed the Islamic Ottoman institutions. The legal and institutional reforms
of the Kemalist period aimed to establish a secular, national political order in a Mus-
lim society.
2
The Republican reforms brought about important changes and transformations in
womens status and led them to enter the public sphere in large numbers. However,
women themselves were active agents in this process as well, something that we, as women
of late-twentieth-century Turkey, were for a long time unaware of. Historical studies that
revealed the existence of Ottoman feminism changed the official approach concerning
the role of women in the history of Turkish modernisation, which had previously ar-
gued that women were granted their rights by the Republican Regime without hav-
ing fought for these rights themselves. Praising Kemalist reforms, this andocentric
discourse designated Atatrk as the sole emancipator of Turkish women.
3
The uncov-
ering of womens struggles during the Ottoman past, however, showed that women
were not only granted rights from above but also actively fought for them.
For feminist academics, the study of this historical process also enabled a critical
reviewing of the authoritarian aspects of the Kemalist regime and Turkish modernisa-
62 SERPIL AKIR
tion. S* irin Tekeli, a political scientist and activist in the feminist movement of the
1980s, was a path-breaking figure in challenging the established Kemalist discourse.
Tekeli argued that the achievement of womens right to vote in municipal elections
(1930) and in national elections (1934) was meant to be a sign of democratisation in
Turkey under the Single Party Regime, in contrast to the fascist regimes in Italy and
Germany.
4
This vein of argument was the outcome of an emerging feminist viewpoint
in the 1980s, when womens situation started to be questioned from womens point of
view, within the framework of a feminist discourse independent of other political dis-
courses, including not only the official ideological discourse of Kemalism, but various
leftist discourses as well.
Within this new feminist movement, themes such as womens bodies, violence
against women, and sexuality emerged and activists began to look at womens issues
with a special focus on the common experience of oppression under the patriarchal
system.
5
The emergence of an independent womens movement also kindled a new
outlook for women in the areas of history, religion, state, and politics. Thus, Nkhet
Sirman came to define the womens movement of the 1980s as a reaction against the
Kemalist regime and the limitations of state feminism inspired by Kemalism.
6
The questioning of Turkish nationalist modernisation came as an unwelcome
shock to the women of earlier generations, who had been brought up within and had
therefore internalised the official ideology of the Kemalist regime. The Republic had
abolished the religious segregation practices and granted women new civil and polit-
ical rights, thereby transforming the accepted practices of female-male interaction and
providing women with the opportunity to realise their own potential, and increasing
their awareness of their own contributions to the social realm. All of this served to
imbue women with a new sense of self-confidence and self-awareness, especially ed-
ucated and/or professional women. Kemalist socialisation had rendered these
women deeply thankful for the Republican reforms and instilled in them a deep de-
votion to the country. Turkish middle-class women in particular adopted these new
roles with an enthusiasm that Durakbas*a describes as Kemalist female identity.
7
While some writers have argued that women functioned as pawns in this process, to
treat women in the early Republican womens movement as mere pawns may lead to
disregarding or underestimating women as subjects capable of making history.
8
Nermin Abadan-Unat, a pioneering political scientist and academic who had her-
self benefited from the early Republican reforms, objected to the criticisms concerning
the authoritarian character of the Republic. In 1935, at the age of fourteen, she had left
her Viennese mother in Budapest to stay with her late fathers family in Izmir. Accord-
ing to Abadan, this move was based on a conscious decision to adopt the budding
Republic of Turkey as her homeland, largely influenced by the egalitarian treatment
and thus free educationof women in accordance with the official modernisation ide-
ology. Both in her articles
9
and in her autobiographical account, Kum Saatini zlerken
(Watching the sandglass),
10
Abadan relates the positive changes that the Republic
affected in her life, and her attitude can be said to reflect the reaction of the first gen-
eration of Kemalist women.
11
These women felt themselves empowered by the Repub-
lican state and therefore thought it unfair to criticise that early period of modernisation,
as do many contemporary Kemalist women today.
FEMINISM AND FEMINIST HISTORY-WRITING IN TURKEY 63
The political scientist Yes*im Arat has asked how we can explain that a young gen-
eration of women has come to the fore with substantial criticisms of Atatrk and his
authoritarian Republicin clear opposition and challenge to previous generations who
revered, and indeed felt deeply grateful to, Atatrk and his Republic. Arat concludes
that the post-1980s womens movement identified itself with demands for freedom and
critical distance from the state as an important contribution to the development of the
modernisation project in Turkey.
12
Arat shows that the first women to take part in the
political arena, that is, in 1935, were usually backed by their fathers in this regard; how-
ever, at the same time these daughters of the Republic still experienced various
restrictions imposed by the patriarchal order.
13
As Ays*e Durakbas*a has demonstrated
in her study on Kemalist female identity, Kemalist fathers tried to bring up their
daughters as exemplary Republican women and gave their full support to ensure their
daughters education and public visibility. At the same time, however, these same men
continued to enforce the traditional moral codes in the family, demanding that their
daughters symbolically veil their sexuality and behave in an extremely modest man-
ner in their social conduct with men.
14
Thus, while daughters could become somewhat
emancipated with the help of their Kemalist-modernist fathers, such emancipation was
not allowed for mothers and wives.
15
Because the modernisation ideology designed by
men sought to depict and limit the ideal wives and comrades for the new man in ac-
cordance with a male modernist outlook, Kemalist Republican ideology entailed a pol-
itics of degendering and a regendering in this process.
16
As Deniz Kandiyoti puts it,
Turkish women were now emancipated but not liberated.
17
Indeed, there was little
difference between the traditionalist and the modernist pattern with respect to gender
roles.
18
The so-called new men (citizens and modern husband-fathers) of the Turkish
Republic bore a great resemblance to the old insofar as their regulating, patronising
character was concerned. The new woman, meanwhile, was expected to devote her
entire being to others and to faithfully observe her duties within the family and society.
19
Drawing upon this observation, Fatmagl Berktay points out the continuities be-
tween the Ottoman Empire and the new Republic, thereby crystallising the continuity
of patriarchy, albeit in a seemingly secular form. Berktay maintains that the modernist
male founders of the Republic sought an alliance with their sisters as they reacted
against traditional authority, that is, the authority of the father and the Sultan. Women
supported their nationalist brothers in the hope of becoming equal citizens. How-
ever, this alliance was problematic insofar as the modernist brothers stopped short
of granting full rights to women, seeking to restrict them within traditional gender
roles. Berktay draws attention to a superseding patriarchal tradition that goes beyond
religious discourse and practice, and which reduces women to secondary citizenship
status.
20
Such a patronising attitude maintains the subservience of women in the so-
cial, educational, economic, and especially sexual domains, all of which continue to be
regulated by traditional codes of honour. Here, Berktay sees an interesting ongoing al-
liance between male Islamists and Westernistsboth on the right and the leftand
maintains that Islamic patriarchy was replaced by nation-state patriarchy.
21
Just as tra-
ditional gender roles were largely maintained despite the transition to the Republic
nation-state, so too was womens role in the political sphere defined and dictated by
the patriarchal reformers.
64 SERPIL AKIR
Studies revealing the limitations actively imposed by Kemalist reformers within
the framework of womens so-called emancipation began to be published in the late
1980s. An early example is the work of Zafer Toprak, a male historian, who drew at-
tention to documents concerning the banning of the Womens Republican Party, which
was founded on 15 June 1923, months before the Peoples Republican Party, and other
documents related to the twelfth Congress of the International Alliance of Women for
Suffrage and Equal Citizenship, held in Istanbul in 1935.
22
Such findings indicate that
women started a struggle for political rights immediately after the foundation of the
Republic. Nezihe Muhittin, a prominent figure in this early womens movement and
publisher of the journal Kadn Yolu (Womens way), and her friends sought to estab-
lish a political party called Kadnlar Halk Frkas (The Womens Peoples Party).
23
How-
ever, their demands were rejected on the grounds that the Constitution then only gave
men the right to vote. The women were therefore advised to found an association
rather than a party. Yet the Trk Kadnlar Birligi (Turkish Womens Association) even-
tually faced the same fate and, although not directly shut down, it was successfully
pressured to terminate its existence by the Single-Party regime after it hosted the 1935
Congress of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship,
on the grounds that its mission was fulfilled.
24
The rediscovery of publications of this period, such as Kadn Yolu, which reveal
womens experiences within the framework of their struggle for rights in the early
Republican period, encouraged a re-questioning of the relationship between women
and the Kemalist Regime. In my book, Osmanl Kadn Hareketi (The Ottoman womens
movement), I argue that Turkish women were not only the objects of national politics
but also active subjects in the struggle for emancipation.
25
I illustrate this point by trac-
ing Ottoman feminism in womens journals, organisations, discourses, and activities
of the historical epoch of transformation in the Ottoman polity and society, especially
in the Second Constitutional Period (190818). Such research, based upon original Ot-
toman sources, provided the impetus for the construction of a feminist memory and
transformed the dominant official discourse, which had claimed that the achievement
of womens rights was due to the legal arrangements realised within the framework
of the Republican reforms. Once womens struggles during the Ottoman period had
been brought to light, academics began to devote more attention to the study of the
womens movement during this period, and the number of such studies increased in
number.
26
They focused upon womens magazines and associations, and on more
prominent women of the time. Another important development was the publication
of a bibliographical study on Ottoman womens periodicals listing the names of writ-
ers and titles of articles published in these periodicals, which has come to be widely
used by researchers as a primary source.
27
As a result of these efforts, we not only know about women whom we had never
heard of before but have also learned that those women whom we did know about
actually have different stories than those conveyed by the official discourse. Biogra-
phies written in old Ottoman script have been published with the new/Latin script
28
and prominent women have been discovered.
29
The fact that a womens movement
existed before the Republican reforms meant that a feminist consciousness could be
recovered based on the stories of women who fought for social ideals and identities.
Ays*e Durakbas*a presents a critical evaluation of Turkish modernisation from a femi-
nist point of view, focusing on a prominent woman, Halide Edib Advar, who partic-
ipated in the Turkish Revolution. Durakbas*a tries to show how Edib simultaneously
internalised and criticised the modernist discourses of the day.
30
Yaprak Zihnioglu,
meanwhile, focuses on Nezihe Muhittin and womens attempts at political organisa-
tion in the early Republican period, which was suppressed by the authoritarian Sin-
gle Party politics, leading Zihnioglu to call that revolutionary period a Revolution
without Women.
31
In her study on Girls Institutions (Kz Enstitleri), Elif Aks*it re-
veals that even though the roles imposed on or expected from women changed dur-
ing the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, the dichotomy
with regard to gender identities has remained the same.
32
The feminist awakening of the post-1980s included a critical questioning of gen-
der roles and sexist moral codes not only within the framework of the nationalist ide-
ology but also within that of the leftist ideology. Women in socialist groups and
parties had been discussing the woman question within the framework of oppres-
sion of the working class, perceiving socialism as the solution for womens problems.
Sabiha Sertel
33
had expressed such socialist views in the 1930s; and they were later
adopted and disseminated by the lerici Kadnlar Dernegi (Progressive Womens Asso-
ciation), founded in 1975.
34
This Association would reach a membership of fifteen
thousand and publish a journal called Kadnlarn Sesi (Womens voice), before being
closed down in the aftermath of the 1980 military intervention. It was only after the
coup dtat that women who were active in the leftist movement felt the need to crit-
icise their comrades, realising that the left, which was supposed to be egalitarian to-
wards women, nevertheless excluded them from decision-making positions and
therefore failed to break with the existing patriarchal gender codes and relations.
35
Another important ideological transformation in the 1990s was the changing in-
terpretation of religion and its influence on women, leading to the view that religion
did not always have a restricting impact on women. Berktay and Aynur lyasoglu, for
example, showed that women could express their discontent via religion and use it as
a means to resist the limitations of their sex status.
36
Women authors who wrote from
the standpoint of practising Muslims, such as Cihan Aktas*,
37
brought forward issues
related to womens religious practices and freedom of attire according to Islamic prin-
ciples in their criticisms of secular modernisation in Turkey. Secular women academ-
ics, such as Kandiyoti,
38
Nilfer Gle, Feride Acar, and Ays*e Saktanber, discussed the
issues of Islamic revivalism and womens rights.
39
The social history of Turkish modernisation was also evaluated from feminist per-
spectives and new topics and themes emerged in the process. Ferhunde zbay stud-
ied a particular type of service, the work of domestic servants, raised as members of
the household, and its meaning during various phases of modernisation.
40
Turkish
modernisation was considered for the first time from the perspective of citizenship,
militarism, and gender, as for example in the work of Ays*egl Altnay who discussed
the militarisation of gender and national identity through Sabiha Gken, Atatrks
adopted daughter, as the worlds first woman combat pilot. Ays*e Gl Altnay has re-
vealed that all arenas of public mobility, including defence of the homeland, were
opened up to women, albeit within certain limitations.
41
66 SERPIL AKIR
To summarise, the significance of the 1990s was the growing volume of feminist
academic research and feminist historical studies in which different ways of silencing
and avoiding acknowledgement of womens presence in history were revealed and
the discovery of an Ottoman feminist past enabled Turkish women to construct a fem-
inist memory for themselves. The new research showed that womens role within the
process of Turkish modernisation was very different from what the official discourse
had led us to believe. The revelation that women had actually been active agents in
this dual process of nationalisation and modernisation served to shake the very foun-
dations of the previously accepted official history.
The Ideological Climate of Ottoman Feminism
Motherhood and womens role in socialisation were central themes in nation-building
ideologies and the related social projects throughout the nineteenth and early twenti-
eth centuries. Womens traditional roles were re-emphasised in the nationalist ide-
ology and the programs of social engineering became loaded with new meanings.
Womens bodies and fertility were subject to rational checks and controls within var-
ious pro-natalist or population planning policies of modern nation-states. Family was
designated as the moral unit of society and the domestic division of labour between
the sexes was designed according to traditional gender roles, with the husband as
breadwinner and the wife assigned the domestic chores of a housewife.
42
These ideas
were stated both in the modernist discourses of the late Ottoman period and later in
Turkish nationalism. In all the trends of nineteenth-century Ottoman thought, namely
Westernism, Islamism, and Turkism,
43
women were at the centre of social projects
as objects of modernisation. But one should be aware that these modernising men
were keen to keep women within the boundaries of their own image of woman-
hood, which did not go beyond the traditional. Meanwhile, issues about gender re-
lations were at the centre of the ideological conflict between the reformists and the
traditionalists.
44
Acommon trend during this period was the emphasis on womens domestic roles
as mothers and wives. Ahmet Rza, an intellectual bureaucrat of the time, stated: A
woman should seek freedom in order to fulfil her duties as a mother as best she can.
45
Abdullah Cevdet, a prominent spokesman of Western views, maintained that any
action or development that would inhibit motherly duties would have bad conse-
quences for women and society in general: The most important duty for women, ma-
terially, or spiritually considered, with its most exalted meaning, is to become a
mother. Any neglect of this obligation will consequently cause destruction for both
women and society.
46
Islamists argued that women should behave in accordance with
what they claimed was the very reason for womens creation, that is, they should use
their birth-giving qualities to reproduce and raise future generations. Musa Kazm,
an Islamicist ideologue, said: Women were created for the purpose of giving birth
to children and raising them for a certain period of time.
47
However, as elsewhere,
womens rights activists in the Ottoman Empire were quick to use this reasoning to
argue for their rights as the mothers of the nation.
Turkish nationalism gradually became dominant in the second Constitutional
Period (190818) and, after the establishment of the Republic, it was this nationalist
ideology that defined the framework of modern ideology that in turn defined the
framework of modern femininity and masculinity in the Republic.
48
Womens rights
were therefore defended not as individual rights, but as a matter of development and
social progress. Social development was directly related to the improvement of
womens social status. Modernist men criticised the patriarchal family and society as
they advocated womens rights and questioned the limitations of patriarchy on their
masculine identities. Male modernists, while complaining about their lack of rights
due to paternal pressure, benefited from womens grievances. They criticised womens
lack of education, their life, and their powerlessness regarding divorce. They also com-
plained about arranged marriages and being bound to incompetent women who
provided no intellectual friendship.
49
Although their support for womens rights was
based on their desire and efforts to fashion proper wives for themselves, these male
reformers emphasis on equality contributed to Ottoman feminism nonetheless.
In this context, there was an attempt to reconcile modernity with Islam as well as
a quest for a tradition harking back to the pre-Islamic origins of the Turkish nation.
Westernism and Turkish nationalism were merged to some extent by Ziya Gkalp
(18761924), who could be considered the ideologue of the Republic. Durkheims
sociological views about division of labour and organic solidarity in a modern society
were influential in Gkalps formulation of a nation based on a corporatist integration
that negated class differences. Within such a sociological framework, he re-emphasised
sexual equality and other democratic cultural characteristics among the ancient Turks,
in their Asiatic, nomadic, pre-Islamic origins, thereby claiming these as components
of authentic Turkish culture and Turkish nationalism.
50
The Ottoman Womens Movement
To wake up, to see, and to demand are three verbs that Ottoman women used to de-
scribe their movement.
51
Since the late nineteenth century, along with the processes of
change and progress in different areas of the Ottoman world, women brought their
demands for rights and freedom to the fore. They began to express themselves in so-
ciety and to create an agenda and awareness regarding their own rights in the public
opinion. They created journals and associations in order to discuss their problems and
propose solutions. While journals helped to amplify their voices, the associations
helped to transform their individual claims into socially organised demands.
It was intellectual men of the time who started womens journals,
52
as participa-
tion of women in the social and political spheres was limited. Terakki-i Muhaderat (The
progress of Muslim women), published in 1869, was the first journal dedicated to
womens issues. However, women soon began to fully enjoy the benefits of this new
area and to publish their own journals. Many more followed, with nearly forty jour-
nals having been published before 1923.
53
A few examples can serve to illustrate the
ideological and social characteristics of the time. Hanmlara Mahsus Gazete (The ladies
journal)published by a man, bnl Hakk Mehmet Tahir, but with female contribu-
68 SERPIL AKIR
tors, Makbule Leman, Nigar Osman, Fatma S* adiyewas significant in that it intro-
duced works by women writers such as Fatma Aliye Hanm and S* air Nigar Hanm and
gives us a window onto the views of modernist male intellectuals of that period. Among
the Ottoman womens journals, Hanmlara Mahsus Gazete had the longest life span, ex-
isting from August 1895 until 1908. The journals goal was expressed as follows:
Our task is quite vast. If we must summarise it in a few words, we would say:
to contribute to increasing the breadth of ladies knowledge in every way; to
be the mirror reflecting the opinions of women poets and writers, or in other
words, to display the innate abilities of Ottoman women through the publica-
tion of their works.
54
Fatma Aliye Hanm, one of the columnists in these journals and a leading intellectual
woman of the period, expressed her views regarding the existence of womens history
and womens need to be aware of that history and develop a consciousness of their
own.
55
The nationalist ideology dominant in Hanmlara Mahsus Gazete was later re-
flected in the publishing principle of nci (Pearl), a journal for women published and
edited by men:
Agood housewife should know how to organise the household, and provide
for a clean and cosy home. She should be a good mother and bring up her
child according to the needs of the modern era. We are publishing Inci in order
to equip women with the necessary knowledge regarding household manage-
ment, cooking, and the like.
56
Kadnlar Dnyas (Womens world), an illustrated journal published only by women
between 17 April 1913 and 21 May 1921, deserves special attention here. The name of
this journal was chosen to reflect the need to create a world for women, and an agenda
was created based upon this goal. Published daily for the first hundred issues, and
weekly thereafter, Kadnlar Dnyas was the voice of an independent womens move-
ment and the most radical of the Ottoman womens journals, in that it did not allow
male writers to write in its columns: Until our rights are recognised in public law,
until men and women are equal in every profession, Kadnlar Dnyas will not wel-
come men in its pages. In addition, the editors of this journal claimed, that it would
be more helpful if the men interested in furthering womens status would write in
mens newspapers that otherwise devoted no attention to womens issues.
57
In fact,
this was the journals basic principle. Its goal was to defend the rights and interests
of womanhood. These principles were included on its cover, which proclaimed that
it defends the legal rights and advantages of women without discrimination against
sex or religion. This goal took on a more concrete form when the women who had
come together to produce the periodical formed their own association, which was also
named after these principles.
Unlike Hanmlara Mahsus Gazete, whose writers were elite intellectual and literary
women of the time, Kadnlar Dnyas published articles written by, and received the
support of women from every segment of society. Another distinguishing aspect of
Kadnlar Dnyas was its four-page supplement in French during the issues 121 to 128.
According to the journal, a new woman had to be created not only ideologically, but
physically as well, so that her appearance complied with the structure of the mod-
ernising society.
58
The main difference between Kadnlar Dnyas and todays journals
is that it published many readers letters and thereby created an agenda of its own by
addressing the issues discussed in such letters.
Kadnlar Dnyas was owned by a woman, Ulviye Mevlan,
59
had an editorial board
comprised solely of women, and was even printed by women. This trend, however,
had a predecessor: the journal S*kfezar (Garden of flowers), which unfortunately sur-
vived for only four issues in 1886. Aquote from the first issue of that journal summarises
its mission: We, a group that has long been humiliated by men for being long haired
and short brained, will try to prove that we are in fact just the opposite. We will in-
sist that it is possible and correct to work without preferring men to women, or women
to men.
60
It is possible to find out how the womens movement was defined at the time by
looking through the articles and letters of these journals, especially Kadnlar Dnyas.
For example, women were obviously extremely determined to change their lives:
Recently Ottoman womanhood proved that it has a soul and that it exists. We
hear its sighs and moans everyday. It says: We exist, we have awoken, we
shall rise, now rise and show us the way. We see this motivation in all sec-
tions of womanhood. We now believe that our life is not a good one. From
now on, women are not going to live this way, and they cannot live this way.
You can be absolutely sure of this.
61
Ottoman women were frequently accused of imitating the West.
62
However, they re-
sponded by saying that no matter where in the world they were, women faced the
same basic problems. They viewed the woman question as a universal issue and
therefore underscored that womens resistance might, of course, be similar. They also
insisted that resolving womens problems be taken seriously, and that the woman
problem be considered the most important issue of the age:
If what we want and what we will do resemble their [western womens] de-
mands and actions, this should not lead to the conclusion that we are imitat-
ing them. This issue, the woman question, should be the number one priority
in the new minds, minds of correct reasoning, bred by this century.
63
Once they had identified the common denominators, that is, the universality of the
womens movement and stated that they would follow the path it laid out, they empha-
sised their awareness of living in a particular society and culture, and that they would not
neglect these factors in their actions. We Ottoman women would like to become part of
this movement, which has been started for all women by our sisters, the women of
this world; however, as we proceed down the path that this movement has carved out,
we shall remain within the boundaries of our own traditions and manners.
64
Signifi-
cantly, feminism was accepted as the watchword of this movement:
70 SERPIL AKIR
There are many important things (such as the telegraph, automobile, or boat)
that exist in every country, yet not every language has a word or even a trans-
lation for them. Therefore we do not need the words nisailik (womanishness)
or nisaiyun (womanhood). We prefer to use the word feminism (feminizm) as
it is. What harm can one more foreign word do to our language? For the exis-
tence and necessity of feminism cannot be denied.
65
The women were also aware that they were being excluded from those practices asso-
ciated with the notions of equality and freedom, ideas that then burgeoned in the in-
tellectual world of men. Not only did men not want to give women the same political
rights that they demanded for themselves, they were reluctant to grant women even
their human rights.
Yes, although men appear to be such freedom-lovers, they are in fact nothing
but small dictators. Even while they drenched the continents in blood, all the
while calling out, Liberty! Liberty!, they were blind to the universe of women,
which was greater and more important than theirs. They abstained from grant-
ing women even their human rights, let alone their political rights.
66
Women expressed their reactions to the fifth anniversary of the 1908 Constitution on
10 July 1913 by calling it the National Day of Men, a clear example of their gender-
conscious response to their lack of political and social rights.
67
In their quest to define
their self-identity, they criticised the ideology of the nation-state and claimed that its
basis was paternal:
On 10 July, our men got their rights of rulership, their civil and human rights.
They fully realised that they were human beings. Ooh womanhood! Will
you still remain in that benighted state? You, too, have a light, a right, and hu-
manity; will it not be acknowledged? Womanhood! When will you see and re-
alise that you are you? When will you, too, live freely? When will your rights
have been accepted among public rights? You are the mother of this people
[millet] that blesses and honours liberty. Will you continue to be the slave of
customs, bigotry, and ignorance? You, too, are human beings; you, too, have
rights! Women, women! Liberty was not given to our men, they took it by
force. It is said that rights are not given but taken. We, women, also demand
our own natural and civil rights. If they do not give them to us, then we, too,
shall take them by force! Vive la Libert!
68
The awareness of this situation would lead to a new consciousness, as expressed in the
periodical Kadnlar Dnyas: only women themselves could solve their own problems:
Yes, some of the Ottoman men defend us Ottoman women. We see that and
we thank them. However, we Ottoman women have our own ways and man-
ners, and male writers can understand neither this, nor our psychology. Let
them please leave us alone and not make toys for their dreams out of us. We
can defend our rights by our own efforts.
69
It was in this aim that women started a movement, first on the individual and later on
a social level. This movement aimed to create both a new social structure, including
all of its inherent components such as intra-personal relations, lifestyle, and values,
and also a new type of woman who would thrive within this new social structure.
The issues addressed by womens organisations attest to the dual character of the
Ottoman womens movement: On the one hand, the women grappled with national
issues, such as solving economic problems, bolstering the national economy, and pro-
moting the consumption of domestic products, and on the other, they dealt with is-
sues specific to women.
70
The lack of educational institutions for women pushed them
to open schools themselves.
71
Some organisations focused solely on the issue of edu-
cating women, such as Osmanl Trk Kadnlar Esirgeme Dernegi (Association for the
Protection of Ottoman Turkish Ladies) and Biki Yurdu (School for Seamstresses). Oth-
ers also aimed at raising womens consciousness by holding conferences.
72
Women
also established associations that supported their participation in business life and
their ability to earn their own livelihood, as well as philanthropic associations that
aimed at healing the wounds of the Balkan Wars (191213), which especially affected
women and children.
Kadnlar Dnyas, mentioned above, was the official journal of the Osmanl
Mudafaa-i Hukuk-u Nisvan Cemiyeti (Association for the Defence of the Rights of
Ottoman Women), founded in 1913.
73
This Association distinguished itself by means
of various activities, such as symbolic demonstrations of womens courage, like flying
in a plane, and organising an action whereby association members entered a post of-
fice en masse to mark the beginning of their struggle for Muslim womens right to
enter public offices. They established a place of business for seamstresses in order to
emphasise the importance of womens economic independence and they also made
attempts to modernise womens dress. Moreover, included in their program was an
article concerning womens participation in politics.
74
All these activities inspired
Grace Ellison from The Times and Odette Feldman from the Berliner Tageblatt to come
to Istanbul to inform the public of their own respective countries about the Ottoman
womens movement.
75
The flexible structure of the Ottoman empire allowed women of various ethnic
backgrounds to organise amongst themselves as well, in the form of organisations
such as Beyoglu Rum Cemiyet-i Hayriye-i Nisvaniyesi (Beyoglu Greek Beneficial Associ-
ation of Women), Trk ve Ermeni Kadnlar ttihat Cemiyet-i Hayriyesi (Beneficial Union
of Turkish and Armenian Women), Krt Kadnlar Teali Cemiyeti (Association for the Ele-
vation of Kurdish Women), and the erkes Kadnlar Teavn Cemiyeti (Association for
Mutual Co-operation Amongst Circassian Women).
76
However, the establishment of
the Republic eradicated this flexible structure, and this state of affairs impacted upon
the womens movement as well. Organisations of ethnic minorities were frowned
upon in Republican Turkey, whose state structure was predominantly shaped by
Turkish nationalism up until recently.
Another example of the new consciousness were the lectures that expressed womens
demands. In 1911, for example, during one of her lectures in a mansion in Istanbul, Fatma
Nesibe drew attention to the importance of organising the masses for the womens strug-
gle: Today we are 300, ladies? Yes. We started with 300, but tomorrow we will be 3000 for
72 SERPIL AKIR
sure, and the day after, 6000. Finally, one day we will start the lecture with all women in
attendance.
77
Considering the ideological currents of the time, the womens movement cannot
claim to be purely feminist. Women, too, were affected by the winds of political na-
tionalist ideology, which, in turn, legitimised womens struggle for their rights. Na-
tionalists accepted that womens status had to be improved because of womens duty
to bring up future generations. The formation of a national family and modernisa-
tion of the nation would only be possible if women were granted their rights. The ar-
gument that claimed full citizenship could only be granted to those who fulfilled their
military service elicited a firm response from women: Women can be soldiers when
the motherland is in need. And after all, they claimed, women should have been
granted rights even before men, because they were the mothers of civilisation, for it
was they who taught children civilised manners.
78
Contemporary Feminist History-Writing in Turkey
Feminist historical studies have shown that women struggled to overcome obstacles
and realise themselves in various activities in Turkey. They have also left traces, if we
can only see them. Today, it is important for us to reveal womens experiences and
struggles and bring that history up to date to strengthen our feminist consciousness.
Halide Edib Advars words, expressed at a conference in 1913, should echo in our
ears, inspiring us to increase our own awareness of our history:
The awakening and progress of women have been slow and gradual as in
other movements, everywhere. The fact that Ottoman women do not have a
written history of their progress should not lead us to conclude that they have
not done anything. On the contrary, to speak of such an intimate subject today
in a large public theatre and find such an honourable and immense crowd of
women in attendance is something to be proud of. Today, at this moment,
as I address you in this way and as you listen, we are, for sure, making history.
One day, when our grandchildren talk about our history with pride and
long enough to comprise an entire conference lecture, they will also mention
our struggle, which is still weak but full of good intentions and sincerity, but
which has already overcome immense difficulties.
79
The main goal of feminist historical writing has been to ensure the visibility of
womens experiences as well as their practices in struggling for their rights and free-
dom within the historical context, to discuss the reasons for the invisibility of women
in history, and to uncover the ways that the power and agency of women have been
obstructed. In short, the aim of feminist historiography is that women be able to write,
and thereby reclaim, their own histories.
80
Below, I will discuss some of my observa-
tions concerning the writing of womens history in Turkey.
81
The most important reason for womens invisibility and the denial of their subjec-
tivity in the Turkish context is how they have been used symbolically in the processes
of modernisation and development. Until recently, women have been studied within
the framework of Turkish modernity or Turkish nationalism. Ottoman feminism was
influenced by the Ottoman modernisation and nationalist movements, and during the
foundation process of the modern Republic, women were defined within a national-
ist modernisation project. If we think that womens experiences, values, and living
practices are different from those of men, then we also need to write history from a
feminist perspective, taking care to conceptualise womens oppression and their prac-
tices in the struggle for freedom and rights. Womens history-writing should therefore
be liberated from the discourses of modernisation and nationalism and the invented
myths and images belonging to this period.
We should also be careful when using the periodisation and specific terms mainly
used to describe Western feminisms, especially taking care not to view womens move-
ments of the past from the vantage point of todays gains and realities. That could lead
us not only to diminish the importance of womens struggles and ways of thinking in
the past but also to recall the past to account for todays events. Evaluating the period
under study within its own conditions and highlighting the universal without dis-
carding the local can help us to avoid mistakes of misinterpretation.
The insufficient use of original materials about women is another significant prob-
lem. We know that women have left behind fewer documents than men. However,
even the limited amount of material that women actually did leave behind has not
been used sufficiently.
82
Some significant sources from which direct information about
women can be obtained have not been used adequately in the Turkish context yet.
Court/qadi records, inherited estate (tereke) records, imperial decrees, petitions, fatwas,
heritage records, consulate records, and Ottoman miniatures that can inform us about
womens use of space and physical appearance, all contain important information.
Objects found in archaeological excavations such as rock monuments, tomb stones,
wall paintings, engraved tablets, plates, reliefs, pots and pans, and ceremonial cups
can be important sources when tracing a society consisting of both men and women.
Folk narratives, songs, epics, folk tales, proverbs, and clothing can also equally pro-
vide us with important information about womens past.
From all these sources we can gather information about womens domestic lives;
their relationships with men and children in the family; their pregnancy and post-
partum period (logusalik) experiences; their place in society; how they used space;
their roles as midwives and healers; their lives in commerce and business; beliefs and
their roles in belief systems (women Sufis, for example); and womens means of enter-
tainment, physical appearance, and clothing styles. Studies of womens history have
shown for the first time that a great many materials ranging from imperial edicts to
paintings, from the needle lace produced by women to clothing, and from diaries to
tear bottles, which had been neglected by traditional historians up to that point, could
actually be of great historical significance.
83
Literary works and novels are also impor-
tant sources providing information about and insight into the individual and society
in instances where fiction and reality overlap.
In addition, oral history methodology, which plays an important role in ensuring
the inclusion of oppressed groups experiences in the historical narrative, can make a
significant methodological contribution to womens history. Womens oral history
84
74 SERPIL AKIR
took on a pioneering role in Turkey in opening up this area.
85
These studies revealed
that for women the history of Turkish modernisation has been fraught with contradic-
tions; that within its framework, women were not immediately freed from the con-
straints of tradition because the degree of modernisation was generally determined by
men; and that therefore, modernisation did not necessary mean freedom for women.
86
Several fields/subjects related to womens history are still waiting to be researched.
The lives of ordinary women, women workers, and migrant/immigrant women have
not been studied sufficiently. Feminist consciousness has recently begun to foster dis-
cussions regarding women of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and histories
of women from different backgrounds within the Ottoman Empire have also begun to
be written.
87
However, much still remains to be done in this respect. It should be noted
that, just as they describe historical varieties of femininity, these new works also take
a democratic approach to political and social history, which to date have established
themselves solely on the basis of the experience of the dominant national group.
In conclusion, the discovery of Ottoman feminism in Turkey shows that women
actively struggled for their own emancipation. It has also revealed that they played a
part in shaping such processes as nation-building and modernisation. Womens craft-
ing and accumulation of knowledge regarding their emancipation history has made
women, especially in Turkey, comprehend the continuity between the efforts of previ-
ous feminists and their own and to establish a relationship with themthereby
strengthening their feminist consciousness and belief in the feminist cause and increas-
ing their self-confidence to change their own lives and becoming political subjects.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Fatmagl Berktay, Ays*e Durakbas*a, Necla Akgke, and Aynur
lyasoglu, who have all contributed a lot to womens history in Turkey, and have
kindly read and commented on this text. I am also grateful to the reviewers and edi-
tors of Aspasia for their constructive criticisms and contributions.
About the Author
Serpil akr, Associate Professor of Political Science Section at the Faculty of Political
Sciences of Istanbul University, received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Uni-
versity of Istanbul. She conducted oral history projects such as The Pioneer Women
of the Turkish Republic, The Turkish Community in London, and Turkish Women
MPs. Her published works are on the history of the womens movement, oral history,
feminist methodology, and gender and politics.
Notes
1. Cemil Oktay, Siyaset Bilimi ncelemeleri (Studies in political theory), Istanbul: Alfa, 2003,
122.
2. The institution of the Caliphate and tarikats (religious sects) were eliminated. The Latin
alphabet was adopted. The Law of Unity of Education entered into force, the Civil Code of
p
p
p
Switzerland was adopted, polygamy became illegal, and civil marriage was introduced with
both partners being granted the right to divorce, equal right to heritage, and custody of children.
3. History books, especially those on the history of the revolution and the history of the Re-
public, which are used in middle and high school education, share the same discourse. See dris
Akdn, Muhittin akmak, and Mustafa Gen, Trkiye Cumhuriyeti, nklap Tarihi and
Atatrklk (The Turkish history of revolution and Kemalism), (High school class 3), Istanbul:
Milli Egitim Bakanlg Publishing, 2005, 181182. Filiz Zap, Murat Sevin, and Zeliha Toz,
Vatandas*lk ve nsan Haklar (Citizenship and human rights), Istanbul: Dogan, 2005, 38.
4. S* irin Tekeli, Women in Turkish Politics, in Women in Turkish Society, ed. Nermin
Abadan-Unat, Leiden: Brill, 1981, 298.
5. See for the womens movement after 1980 in Turkey: S* . Tekeli, Emergence of the Femi-
nist Movement in Turkey, in The New Womens Movement: Feminism and Political Power in Eu-
rope and the USA, ed. Drude Dahlerup, London: Sage Publications, 1986, 17999. S* . Tekeli ed.,
Women in Modern Turkish Society, London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1991, 1995. Yes*im Arat,
Toward a Democratic Society: The Womens Movement in Turkey in the 1980s, Womens Stud-
ies International Forum, 17 (1994): 24148. Sevgi Uan ubuku, The Post 1980 Womens Move-
ment in Turkey. AChallenge To Patriarchy, The Position of Women in Turkey and in The European
Union. Achievements, Problems, Prospects, ed. Fatmagl Berktay, stanbul: Ohan, 2004, 5574.
6. Nket Sirman, Feminism in Turkey: AShort History, New Perspectives in Turkey, vol. 3,
no. 1 (1989): 134.
7. Ays*e Durakbas*a, The Formation of Kemalist Female Identity A Historical-Cultural Per-
spective, M.A. Thesis, Istanbul, Bogazii University, 1987. Ays*e Durakbas*a, Cumhuriyet Dne-
minde Kemalist Kadn Kimliginin Olus*umu (The formation of Kemalist womens identity in
the Republican period), Tarih ve Toplum (History and society) no. 51 (1988): 3943.
8. Deniz Kandiyoti, Women and the Turkish State: Political Actors or Symbolic Pawns?,
in Women-Nation-State, eds. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias, London: The Macmillan
Press, 1989, 126.
9. Nermin Abadan-Unat, Social Change and Turkish Women, in Women in Turkish Society,
ed. N. Abadan Unad, Leiden: Brill, 1981; N. Abadan-Unat, Sylemden Protestoya: Trkiye de
Kadn Hareketlerinin Dns*m (From rhetoric to protest: The transformation of womens
movements in Turkey), in 75. Ylda Kadn ve Erkekler (Women and men in the 75th year), ed.
Ays*e Berktay Hacmirzaoglu, Istanbul: Tarih Vakf, 1998, 32336.
10. N. Abadan-Unat, Kum Saatini zlerken (Watching the sand-time), Istanbul: letis*im, 1996.
11. Another example of a similar professional woman of this generation is Trkan Saylan.
T. Saylan, Bir Yas*amdan Kesitler (Cross-sections of a life), Istanbul: Cumhuriyet Publishing, 2000.
T. Saylan, Gnes* Umuttan S* imdi Dogar (Now the sun shall rise from hope), Istanbul: Is* Bankas
Publishing, 2004.
12. Y. Arat, AFeminist Mirror in Turkey: Portraits of Two Activists in the 1980s, Princeton
Papers, 5 (Fall 1996): 11332; Y. Arat, The Project of Modernity and Women in Turkey, in Re-
thinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey, eds. Sibel Bozdogan and Res*at Kasaba, Seat-
tle: University of Washington Press, 1997, 95112.
13. Y. Arat, The Patriarchal Paradox: Women Politicians in Turkey, Madison: N.J. Fairleig Dick-
inson University Press, 1989.
14. A. Durakbas*a, Kemalism as Identity Politics in Turkey, in Deconstructing Images of the
Turkish Woman, ed. Z. Arat, New York: St. Martins Press, 1998, 149.
15. Y. Arat, 1980ler Trkiyesinde Kadn Hareketi: Liberal Kemalizmin Radikal Uzants,
(The womens movement in 1980s Turkey: The radical extension of liberal Kemalism), Toplum-
Bilim (Society and science), no. 53 (1991): 720. Y. Arat, From Emancipation to Liberation: The
Changing Role of Women in Turkeys Public Realm, Journal of International Affairs, no.1 (Fall
76 SERPIL AKIR
2000): 54. In this context also see, Fatma Mge Gcek and Shiva Balaghi eds., Reconstruction of
Gender in the Middle East, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Zehra Arat ed., Decon-
structing Images of the Turkish Women, New York: St. Martins Press, 1998.
16. A. Durakbas*a, Cumhuriyet Dneminde Kadn ve Erkek Kimliklerinin Olus*umu:
Kemalist Kadn Kimligi ve Mnevver Erkekler (The formation of female and male identities:
Kemalist female identity and enlightened men), in 75. Ylda Kadnlar ve Erkekler, 2950.
17. Deniz Kandiyoti, Emancipated but Unliberated? Relections on the Turkish Case, Fem-
inist Studies, 13, no. 2 (Summer 1987): 317.
18. Zehra Arat sees this as the replacement of Islamic by Western patriarchy. Z. Arat, Ke-
malizm ve Trk Kadn (Kemalism and Turkish women), in 75 ylda Kadnlar ve Erkekler, 52.
19. Duygu Kksal, 1930lar 40larda Kadn, Cinsiyet ve Ulus (Women, gender and nation
in the 1930s and 1940s), Toplumsal Tarih (Social history), no. 51 (1998): 39. D. Kksal, The Politics
of Cultural Identity in Turkey: Nationalist Perspectives in the Writings of K. Tahir, C. Meri and A.
lhan, Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas, 1996.
20. F. Berktay, Osmanldan Cumhuriyete Feminizm (Feminism: from the Ottoman pe-
riod to the Republic) in Tanzimat ve Mes*rutiyetin Birikimi, Osmanldan Cumhuriyete Ds*nsel
Miras (The accumulation of Tanzimat and Constitutional periods: intellectual heritage from the
Ottoman to Republican Period), ed. Mehmet Alkan, Istanbul: letis*im, 2001, 354. A primary
source and inspiration for Berktay in reaching this conclusion has been Carol Patemans clas-
sic book, The Sexual Contract, Oxford: The Polity Press, 1988.
21. F. Berktay, Political Regimes: Turkey, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, vol.
2, 2005, 569.
22. Zafer Toprak, 1935 stanbul Uluslararas Feminizm Kongresi ve Bars* (The 1935 interna-
tional Istanbul feminist congress and peace), Toplum- Ds* n (Society and mentality), no. 24 (1986):
2429. Z. Toprak, Halk Frkasndan nce Kurulan Parti: Kadnlar Halk Frkas (A party that
proceeds the Republican Party: the Womens Peoples Party), Tarih Toplum, no. 51 (1988): 3031.
23. Serpil akr, Muhittin, Nezihe (18891958), in A Biographical Dictionary of Womens
Movements and Feminisms. Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries, eds.
Francisca de Haan, Krassimira Daskalova and Anna Loutfi, Budapest and New York: Central
European University Press, 2006, 356359.
24. Kadnlar Birligi Dn Kendini Feshetti (The Turkish Womens Association was abol-
ished yesterday), Tan newspaper, 11 Mays 1935: 2. Also see Toprak, 1935 stanbul Uluslararas
Feminizm Kongresi ve Bars*; Yaprak Zihnioglu, Kadnsz Inklap (Revolution without women),
Istanbul: Metis, 2003, 257258.
25. akr, Osmanl Kadn Hareketi (The Ottoman womens movement), Istanbul: Metis, 1994,
(2nd ed.1996). Idem, II.Mes*rutiyette Osmanl Kadn Hareketi (The Ottoman womens movement
in the Second Constitutional Period), Ph.D. thesis, University of Istanbul, 1991.
26. See for some examples, Aynur Demirdirek, Osmanl Kadnlarnn Hayat Hakk Ara-
ys*larnn Hikayesi (The story of Ottoman womens search for the right to live), Ankara: mge,
1993. ADemirdirek, In Pursuit of the Ottoman Womens Movement, in Deconstructing Images
of The Turkish Women, Zehra Arat ed., Deconstructing Images of the Turkish Women, New York:
St. Martins Press, 1998, 6582. Ays*egl Yaraman, Elinin Hamuru le zgrlk (Freedom through
her feminine fragile hand), Istanbul: Milliyet, 1993. S. akr, Siyasal Yas*ama Katlm Mcade-
lesinde Trk Kadn (Turkish women in the struggle for participation in political life), in Es*it
Hak Es*it Katlm, ed. Necla Arat, stanbul: Cem, 1991, 131142. Idem, Die historische Entwick-
lung der Frauenbewegungen in der Trkei vom Osmanishen Reich bis zur Trkischen Repub-
lik, in Die Trkische Frauenbewegung, ed. Ays*e Esin, A. Kaputanoglu, Karlsruhe: University of
Karlsruhe Turkish Student Union, 1993, 4756. S. akr and Hlya Glbahar, Kadnn Yzyl
Kronolojisi 18001999 (Achronology of the womens movement in Turkey for the last century),
Istanbul: Womens Library Publishing, 1999. Yldz Ramazanoglu, Osmanldan Cumhuriyete
Kadnn Tarihi Dns*m (The historical transformation of women from the Ottoman Times to
the Republic), stanbul: Pnar, 2000. nci Kerestecioglu, Die Konstruktion der Neuen Trk-
ischen Frau und der Internationale Frauenkongress (1935), in Die Neue Muslimische Frau, ed.
Barbara Pusch, Istanbul: Orient-Institut, 2001, 1730.
27. S. akr et al., Eski Harfli Trke Kadn Dergileri Bibliyografyas, (Bibliography of womens
periodicals written in Ottoman script), Istanbul: Metis, 1993. Emel As*a, 1928e Kadar Trk Kadn
Mecmualar (Womens periodicals until 1928), MAthesis, Istanbul University, 1989. Asl Davaz-
Mardin, Kadn Sreli Yaynlar Bibliyografyas (19281996), (Womens periodicals, 192896), Is-
tanbul: Womens Library Publishing, 1998.
28. Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Fatma Aliye: Bir Osmanl Kadn Yazarn Dogus*u (The birth of an Ot-
toman woman writer), Istanbul: Sel, 1994. S* air Nigar, Hayatmn Hikayesi (My life story), Istan-
bul: Ekin Basmevi, 1959.
29. See for some examples: Emel As*a, Fatma Aliye Hanm: Hayat, Eserleri, Fikirleri (Fatma
Aliye Hanm: Her life, work, and thought, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Istanbul, 1993. Nazan
Bekiroglu, S* air Nigar Hanm (The poet Nigar Hanm), Istanbul: letis*im, 1998. A. Durakbas*a,
Halide Edip: Trk Modernles*mesi ve Feminizm (Halide Edip: Turkish modernisation and femi-
nism), Istanbul: letis*im, 2000. Idem, Halide Edib Advars Memorien Der Werdegang einer
trkischen Schriftstellerin und Intellektuellen, Lhomme, Zeitschrift fr Feministische
Geschichtswissenchaft 2, no. 2 (1991): 4857. Idem, The Memoirs of Halide Edib: A Turkish
Woman Writer in Exile, in Womens Lives/Womens Times, New Essays on Auto/biography, eds.
Broughton, T. and L. Anderson, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1997.
S. akr, Kadn Tarihinden ki sim: Ulviye Mevlan ve Nezihe Muhittin (Ulviye Mevlan and
Nezihe Muhittin: Two women from Turkish womens history), Toplumsal Tarih no. 46 (1997):
614. Firdevs Gms*oglu, Cumhuriyete z Brakanlar-Onuncu Yl Kus*ag, (Women who left
traces in the RepublicThe generation of the tenth year), Istanbul: Kaynak, 2001. F. Berktay,
Behice Boran, in Idem, Tarihin Cinsiyeti (The gender of history), Istanbul: Metis, 2003, 192203.
A Biographical Dictionary of Womens Movements and Feminisms, eds. De Haan et al, has entries
about seven prominent women in Turkey.
30. A. Durakbas*a, Edib Advar, Halide (18841964), in A Biographical Dictionary of Womens
Movements and Feminisms, eds. De Haan et al, 120123. Idem, Reappraisal of Halide Edib for a Cri-
tique of Turkish Modernisation, Ph.D. thesis, University of Essex, 1993; published in Turkish as
Halide Edip: Trk Modernles*mesi ve Feminizm, Istanbul: letis*im, 2000.
31. Zihnioglu, Kadnsz nklap, 22.
32. Elif Ekin Aks*it, Kzlarn Sessizligi, Kz Enstitlerinin Uzun Tarihi (Girls silence. The long
history of girls institutes), Istanbul: letis*im, 2005.
33. nci Kerestecioglu, Sertel, Sabiha (born Nazmi) (18951968), in A Biographical Dictio-
nary of Womens Movements and Feminisms, eds. De Haan et al, 494497.
34. The history of lerici Kadnlar Dernegi (Progressive Womens Association) was written
by women who came from the same movement: Ve Hep Birlikte Kos*tuk, lerici Kadnlar Dernegi
19751980 (We all ran together, the Progressive Womens Association), Istanbul: A, 1996. Emel
Akay, Kzl Feministler (The red feminists), Istanbul: Tstav, 2003.
35. F. Berktay, Has Anything Changed in the Outlook of the Turkish Left on Women?, in
Women in Modern Turkish Society, ed. S* . Tekeli, 250262.
36. F. Berktay, Women and Religion, Montreal: Black Rose, 1998. Aynur Ilyasoglu, rtl
Kimlik (Veiled identity), Istanbul: Metis, 1994. A. Ilyasoglu, Islamist Women in Turkey: Their
Identity and Self-Image, in Deconstructing Images of The Turkish Woman, ed. Z. Arat, 241262.
Hidayet S* efkatli-Tuksal reveals that theirs was an anti-woman discourse in the Islamic tradi-
tion. Her doctoral thesis was the first in the Faculty of Theology to specifically focus on women
78 SERPIL AKIR
as subjects and study the effects of the patriarchal discourse on the Islamic tradition. See H. S* .
Tuksal, Kadn Kars*t Sylemin slam Gelenegindeki zds*mleri (Reflections of anti-women rheto-
ric in the Islamic tradition), Ankara: Kitabiyat, 2000. H.S* . Tuksal, Snni-Muhafazakar evrel-
erde Kadn Politikas retmenin Glkleri (The hardships of producing women politics in
Sunni-conservative circles), in Trkiyede Sivil Toplum ve Milliyetilik (Civil society and national-
ism in Turkey) ed. Tanl Bora, Istanbul: letis*im, 2001, 488505.
37. Cihan Aktas*, Tanzimattan Gnmze Klk Kyafet ktidar (Attire and power from the
Tanzminat Reformation to our day), Istanbul: Nehir, 1990. See also Fatma Karabyk Barbo-
bosoglu, Modernles*me Srecinde Moda ve Zihniyet (Fashion and mentality in the modernisation
process in Turkey), Istanbul: z yaynclk, 1995. Nazife Sis*man, Emanetten Mlke Kadn Be-
deninin Yeniden ns*as (The reconstruction of womens body), Istanbul: z, 2002.
38. D. Kandiyoti, End of Empire: Islam, Nationalism and Women in Turkey, in Women,
Islam and the State, ed. D. Kandiyoti, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991, 2247. Idem,
Women, Islam and the State, London: Macmillan, 1991.
39. Nilfer Gle, The Forbidden Modern: Civilisation and Veiling, Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1996. Feride Acar, Women in the Ideology of Islamic Revivalism in Turkey:
Three Islamic Womens Journals, in Islam in Modern Turkey: Religion and Literature in a Secular
State, ed. R.L. Tapper, I.B. Tauris, 1991. F. Acar, Women and Islam in Turkey, in Women in Mod-
ern Turkish Society, S* . Tekeli ed., 4665. Ays*e Saktanber, Living Islam: Women, Religion and the
Politicisation of Culture in Turkey, London: I.B. Tauris, 2002. See also: Hlya Demir, Islamc
Kadnn Aynadaki Sureti (Reflection of Islamist women in the mirror), Istanbul: Sel, 1998. Pnar
lkkaracan, Women and Sexuality in Muslim Societies, Istanbul: Publication of Women for Womens
Human Rights, 2000. Based upon her research about the womens branch of the Islamist Party,
Yes*im Arat claims that women from the Islamist Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) had actually in-
ternalised the spirit of Republican reforms and laicism and the principles of liberal democracy,
despite opposition to such principles in that political partys own popular discourse. See Yes*im
Arat, Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy: Islamist Women in Turkish Politics, Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2005.
40. Ferhunde zbay, Gendered Space: ANew Look at Turkish Modernisation, Gender and
History, vol. 11, no. 3 (1999): 555568.
41. Ays*egl Altnay, Ordu Millet Kadnlar.Dnyann lk Savas* Pilotu Sabiha Gken (Mil-
itary, nation, women: The first woman combat pilot in the world: Sabiha Gken), in Vatan Mil-
let Kadnlar (Homeland-nation-women) ed. A. Altnay, Istanbul: letis*im, 2000 (2nd ed., 2004),
246279. See also A. Altnay, The Myth of the Military-Nation: Militarism, Gender and Education in
Turkey, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. A. Altnay, Military. Womens Participation in:
Turkey, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, vol. 2, Leiden: Brill, 2005, 315316.
42. Durakbas*a, Cumhuriyet Dneminde Kadn ve Erkek Kimliklerinin Olus*umu:Kemalist
Kadn Kimligi ve Mnevver Erkekler, 36.
43. S* erif Mardin, The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought, Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1962. Published in Turkish as Jn Trklerin Siyasi Fikirleri, Istanbul: letis*im, 1983.
44. D. Kandiyoti, Gendering the Modern: On Missing Dimensions in the Study of Turkish
Modernity, in Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey, eds. Sibel Bozdogan and
Res*at Kasaba, Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1995, 113. Here we can cite
Selahattin Asm, the director of the School of Law of Thessaloniki, as a positive example of some-
one who goes against the grain in his courses and writings. He saw the exclusion of women from
society and social life as one of the main social problems and argued that women had to fulfil
certain social functions in order to attain the basic rights and be treated as individuals. Selahat-
tin Asm, Trk Kadnn Tereddisi yahut Karlas*mak (The degradation of Turkish women), Istanbul:
Arba, 1911, 2nd ed. 1996.
45. Ahmet Rza, Vazife ve Mesuliyet: Kadn (Duty and Responsibility: Woman), Paris: ttihat
Terakki Cemiyeti tarafndan baslms*tr, Published by the Ottoman Order and Progress Society,
1908, 10.
46. S* kr Haniogulu, Abdullah Cevdet ve Dnemi (Abdullah Cevdet and his period), Istan-
bul: dal, 1984, 308309.
47. Musa Kazm, Hrriyet-i Msavvat (Freedom and equality), quoted in smail Kara,
Trkiyede slamclk Ds*ncesi (Islamic thought in Turkey), vol. 2, Istanbul: Risale Yaynlar,
1987, 54.
48. Durakbas*a, Cumhuriyet Dneminde Kadn ve Erkek Kimliklerinin Olus*umu: Kemal-
ist Kadn Kimligi ve Mnevver Erkekler, 37.
49. Kandiyoti, Gendering the Modern, 114. Kandiyoti is also a pioneer in researching the
construction of masculinity in Turkey. See her Patterns of Patriarchy: Notes for an Analysis of
Male Dominance in Turkish Society, in Women in Modern Turkish Society, ed. S* . Tekeli, 306318;
and The Paradoxes of Masculinity: Some Thoughts on Segregated Societies, in Dislocating
Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies, eds. Andrea Cornwall and Nancy Lindisfarne, London:
Routledge, 1994.
50. Ziya Gkalp, Trklgn Esaslar (Principles of Turkism), Istanbul: Varlk, 1968.
51. With the signature Kadnlar Dnyas (Womens world): Osmanl Kadnnn stedigi
(What the Ottoman woman wants), Kadnlar Dnyas (Womens world), no. 11 (5 October 1913): 1.
52. Aile (Family) was published by S* emseddin Sami in 1880. Demet (Bunch) was published
by Celal Sahir in 1908. There is no record of any editor in most of the publications in this pe-
riod; in most cases the typesetters served as editors.
53. S. akr, Political-Social Movements. Revolutionary: Turkey, in Encyclopedia of Women
and Islamic Cultures, Leiden: Brill, vol. 2, 2005, 664.
54. Hanmlara Mahsus Gazete (Journal for the ladies) no. 1 (1895): 23.
55. S. akr, Aliye, Fatma (18621936), in A Biographical Dictionary of Womens Movements
and Feminisms, eds. De Haan et al, 2124.
56. nci (Pearl) no. 1 (1919): 2.
57. Ak Muhabere (Open communication), Kadnlar Dnyas, (Womens world) no. 21 (24
April 1913): 4.
58. Information about dress as well as face, hair, and body care provided in the journal was
intended to contribute to the appearance of women in the public sphere. Accounts of the lives
and work of famous women of the West, including Madam Curie, Sarah Bernard, George Sand,
and other leading women of the arts and sciences as well as various professions, were provided
to promote a Western-oriented identity. News about the programmes and events of womens
organisations, texts of womens conferences, book critiques, and music and theatrical news
were also included within the pages of the journal.
59. S. akr, Mevlan Civelek, Ulviye (18931964), in A Biographical Dictionary of Womens
Movements and Feminisms, eds. De Haan et al, 336339.
60. Arife, Mukaddime (Introduction), S* kfezar (Garden of flowers), no. 1 (1886): 6.
61. With the signature, Kadnlar Dnyas, Eser-i Hayat- Azmimiz (The product of our de-
termination of life), Kadnlar Dnyas no. 102 (1913): 23.
62. In an article of his published on 12 January 1921 in kdam Newspaper, the male intellec-
tual Yakup Kadri started a polemic amongst women about this issue. See Nimet Cemil,
Kadnlgn Terakkisi (Womens progress), Kadnlar Dnyas, 19 February no. 194/8, (1921): 2.
Moreover, Turkish women are still accused of imitation today.
63. Mkerrem Belks, Tecedddperverler, skolastikler (Reformists and scholastics), Kadn-
lar Dnyas, no. 119 (17 November 1913): 45. Quoted in S. akr, Osmanl Kadn Hareketi (The
Ottoman womens movement), 116.
80 SERPIL AKIR
64. With the signature: Kadnlar Dnyas, Hukuk-u Nisvan (Womens rights), Kadnlar
Dnyas, no. 1 (4 April 1913): 1.
65. Nimet Cemil, Yine Feminizm, Daima Feminizm (Feminism again, feminism always),
Kadnlar Dnyas, no. 194/8 (19 February 1921): 2. Gen Kadn (Young woman) magazine, which
was published by men in 1919, rejected feminism on the basis that it was European in origin.
From the Editor, Meslegimiz (Our aim), Gen Kadn, no. 1 (4 January 1919): 3.
66. Y. Naciye, Erkekler Hakikaten Hrriyetperver midirler? Kadnlar Ne stiyorlar? (Are
men really freedom lovers? What do women want?), Kadnlar Dnyas no.7 (10 April 1913): 3.
67. Mehpare Osman, Erkeklerimizin Milli Bayram (National day of our men), Kadnlar
Dnyas, no. 98 (10 July 1913): 1.
68. With the signature, Kadnlar Dnyas, 10 Temmuz d-i Ekber-i Hrriyettir (Tenth of
July is the great Feast of Freedom), Kadnlar Dnyas no. 98 (10 July 1913): 1.
69. With the signature, Kadnlar Dnyas, Hukuk-u Nisvan (Womens rights), Kadnlar
Dnyas, no. 1 (4 April 1913): 1.
70. S. akr, Osmanl Kadn Dernekleri (Ottoman womens associations), Toplum ve Bilim
(Society and science), no. 53 (Spring 1991): 139157. Some of these associations aimed at solv-
ing economic problems. See: Z. Toprak, Osmanl Kadnlar als*trma Cemiyeti, Kadn Asker-
ler ve Milli Aile (The Ottoman Association for Employment of Women, Women Soldiers and
National), Tarih ve Toplum 51 (1988): 3438. Cneyt Oktay, II.Mes*rutiyet Dneminde Bir Kadn
S* irketi: Hanmlara Mahsus Es*ya Pazar A.S* (Awomens firm in the Second Constitutional pe-
riod: Bonmarch for women), Tarih Toplum, no. 183 (March 1999): 1214.
71. For example, Zabel Hancyan and her organisation, Azkaniver Hayuhya ngerutyan,
founded in Istanbul in 1879, aimed at opening new schools for young girls and helping the ed-
ucation of Armenian women in Anatolia and did open twenty-three schools in Anatolia. See
Osman Nuri Ergin, Trk Maarif Tarihi (The history of Turkish education), Istanbul: Osmanbey
Publishing, 1930, vol. 1, 632633.
72. S. akr, Bir Osmanl Kadn Dernegi: Osmanl Trk Kadnlar Esirgeme Dernegi (As-
sociation for the Protection of Ottoman Turkish Women), Toplum ve Bilim, no. 45 (Spring 1989):
9197.
73. S. akr, Osmanl Kadnnn Yeni Bir Kimlik Kazanma Arac: Osmanl Mdafaa-i
Hukuk-u Nisvan Cemiyeti (The way of Ottoman women to acquire a new identity: The Asso-
ciation for the Defence of the Rights of Ottoman Women), Tarih ve Toplum no. 6 (June 1989):
1621.
74. Bir ki Sz (Afew words), Kadnlar Dnyas, no.194/1 (2 January 1921): 2.
75. See issue 138 of Kadnlar Dnyas, (4 April 1914): 214.
76. Ruhat Alakom, Krt Kadnlar Teavn Cemiyeti (The Association of Elevating Kur-
dish Women), Tarih ve Toplum no. 171 (March 1998): 3640. S. akr, Programlaryla Yzyln
Bas*nda Kadn Dernekleri (Womens associations at the term of the century, including their
programmes), Sosyo-Kltrel Degis*me Srecinde Trk Ailesi (The Turkish family in the socio-
cultural process of change), Istanbul: lke, 1993.
77. P.B. (editor Sleyman Bahri), Beyaz Konferanslar (White conferences), Kadn, no.14 (7
January 1911): 1314. Unfortunately, we have no information about Fatma Nesibe, apart from
the texts of her eleven lectures, which were published in Kadn (Women) in Istanbul, 1911. See.
S. akr, Kadnlgn lk Tarihi S* ikayeti: Beyaz Konferanslar (The first historical complaint of
womanhood: White conferences), Tarih-Toplum, no. 231 (March 2003): 4047.
78. With the signature, Kadnlar Dnyas, 10 Temmuz d-i Ekber-i Hrriyettir, Kadnlar
Dnyas, no. 98 (10 July 1913): 1. Although conscious of its own goals and actions, the womens
movement remained under the influence of the issues of its time, remaining involved with na-
tional problems: Our goal is not only the rise and progress of women but the rise and progress
of our nation. Ulviye Mevlan, Ds*nyorum (I am thinking), Kadnlar Dnyas, no. 168 (6
April 1918): 2.
79. Halide Edip, Yirminci Asrda Kadnlar (Women in the twentieth century), Mektep
Mzesi (School museum) no. 1 (1913): 4.
80. Joan W. Scott, The Problem of Visibility, in Retrieving Womens History, ed. Jay Klein-
berg, Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1988, 529.
81. Works on womens history-writing in Turkey include: Ays*egl Baykan, The Turkish
Woman: An Adventure in Feminist Historiography, Gender and History, vol. 6, no. 1 (1994): 101
116. Ays*egl Baykan and Belma ts*-Baskett, Nezihe Muhittin ve Trk Kadn (Nezihe Muhittin
and Turkish women), Istanbul: letis*im, 1999. S. akr, Tarih indeki Grnrlkten Kadn-
larn Tarihine: Trkiyede Kadn Tarihi Yazmak (From the visibility within history to womens
history), in Kadn Aras*trmalarnda Yntem (Methodology of womens studies), eds. S akr and
Necla Akgke, Istanbul: Sel, 1996, 222229. A. Durakbas*a, Feminist Tarih Yazm zerine Not-
lar, in Kadn Aras*trmalarnda Yntem, 217221. A. Durakbas*a and N. Akgke, berlick ber
die Frauengeschichte in der Trkei, LHomme, Z.F.G., vol. 12. no. 1 (2001): 173179. S. akr,
Tarih Yazmnda Kadn Deneyimlerine Ulas*ma Yollar (The ways to get to womens experi-
ence in historiography), Toplumsal Tarih (March 2002): 3835. N. Akgke, Ortak Gemis*i Bir-
likte Kurmak (Constructing the common past together), Tarih Toplum no. 185 (May 1999):
32/35. F. Berktay, Kendine Ait Bir Tarih (A history of our own), Tarih Toplum no. 183 (March
1999): 4754. F. Berktay, Gelecegi Yaratmak in Gemis*i Geri Almak (Reclaiming the past to
create the future), Cogito no. 29 (Fall 2001): 270283. Necla Akgke, Aynur lyasoglu, Ays*e Du-
rakbas*a and Serpil akr, Tarts*ma: Kadn Tarihi Tarihin Neresine Ds*yor (Discussion: How
to locate womens history in history), Cogito no. 29 (Fall 2001): 254269. F. Berktay, Tarih Yaz-
mnda Farkl Bir Perspektif (A different perspective in historiography), in Idem, Tarihin Cin-
siyeti, 535.
82. Seeing that these women really existed made people aware of the various ways of si-
lencing the past to induce a kind of historical amnesia. This was, in a way, related with the more
or less general amnesia over the Ottoman past and subjectivities of the past. The change in lan-
guage and the replacement of the Ottoman alphabet with the Latin alphabet also contributed
to a break in cultural continuity.
83. See for example, Gken Art, Seyhulislam Fetvalarnda Kadn ve Cinsellik (Women and
sexuality in fatwas), Istanbul: ivi, 1996. Haim Gerber, The Social and Economic Position of
Women in an Ottoman City, Bursa 16001700, International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol.
12 (1980): 231244. Suraiya Faroqhi, Crime, Women, and Wealth in the Eighteenth-century
Anatolian Countryside, in Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern Women in the Early
Modern Era, ed. Madeline C. Zilfi, Leyden: Brill, 1997, 627. Ali Akyldz, Mmin ve Msrif Bir
Padis*ah Kz: Refia Sultan (Atrue believer and spendthrift daughter of an Ottoman Sultan: Refia
Sultan), Istanbul: Tarih Vakf, 1998. Asiye Hatunun Rya Mektuplar (Dreamlog of Asiye Hatun),
translation: Cemal Kafadar, Istanbul: Oglak, 1994.
84. Examples in Turkey include: A. lyasoglu, Trkiye Kadn Tarihinin Aras*trlmasnda
Yntem Sorunlar ve Szl Tarih Yntemi (Methodological problems in studying Womens
History in Turkey and the oral history method), in Insan, Toplum, Bilim(Human, society and sci-
ence), ed. Kuvvet Lordoglu, Istanbul: Kavram, 1996, 317331. S. akr, Kadn als*malar Bil-
imde Neleri, Nasl Sorguluyor (Womens studies critique of social sciences in nsan, Toplum,
Bilim, 305216. S. akr, and N. Akgke, Tell me about You! Thoughts on the ethics of the re-
lationship between the interviewer and the interviewee while practising womens oral history,
XII. International Oral History Conferences, 1519 June 2000, stanbul: Bogazii University,
387491. A. lyasoglu, Kadnlarn Yas*am Tarihi Anlatlarna Kadn als*malar Alanndan
Baks* (An overview of womens life narratives from a Womens Studies perspective), Yerli Bir
82 SERPIL AKIR
Feminizme Dogru (Towards a native feminism), eds. A. lyasoglu and N. Akgke, Istanbul: Sel,
2002, 1537.
85. There has been a proliferation of womens oral history projects in Turkey, accompanied
by the establishment of various archives. The Womens Library carried out a project entitled A
Pilot Project on Womens Oral History in Turkey, and the Istanbul University Women Research
Centre completed a project on The Pioneer Women of the Republic.
86. See, for example: zlem S* ahin, Zorunlu Yer Degis*tirme Srecinde Kadnlararas Dayans*ma
zerine Bir Szl Tarih Denemesi (An oral history project about the solidarity among women
during forced migration), Ph.D. thesis, Ankara University, 1999. Ays*e Durakbas*a and Aynur
lyasoglu, The Formation of Gender Identities in Republican Turkey and Women as Transmit-
ters of Herstory of Modernisation, Journal of Social History (Fall 2001): 195203. A. lyasoglu,
Cumhuriyetle Yas*t Kadnlarn Yas*am Tarihi Anlatlarnda Kadnlk Durumlar, Deneyimler,
znellik, (Womanhood: Experiences and subjectivity in the life history narratives of Republi-
can women in Turkey) in 75 Ylda Kadnlar ve Erkekler, 193200. A. lyasoglu, Religion and
Women During the Course of Modernisation in Turkey, Oral History vol. 24, no. 2 (Winter
1996): 4953.
87. See, for example: Tarihte Ermeni Kadn (Armenian women in history), trans: Var-
tanus* A. erme, Tarih-Toplum, no. 195 (March 2000): 5967. Melissa Bilal, Lerna Ekmekioglu
and Belinda Mumcu, Hayganus* Markn (18851996) Hayat, Ds*nceleri ve Etkinlikleri (The
life story of Hayganus* Mark [18851996], her ideas and activities), Toplumsal Tarih no. 87 (March
2001): 4856.

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